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The "Not Quite Amiga but still computer related category" => Alternative Operating Systems => Topic started by: whabang on March 26, 2003, 10:25:43 AM

Title: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: whabang on March 26, 2003, 10:25:43 AM
Is it possible to do hardware MP3 decoding with a SBLive?
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: jj on March 26, 2003, 10:55:17 AM
I am not sure, I don't think so though.  I have a sounblaster live 5.1 live in my pee cee and I have not seen it mentioned anywhere.  If u like I can send u a copy of the manual in pdf format
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: WarPiper on March 26, 2003, 10:57:15 AM
yes it is I use a soundblaster live platinum in my PC and I have no problem making mp3's from 96 kbs to 320 kbs, cd rips are easy and sound capture is real easy with the soundblaster live cards, though I know that there are a number of new fangled pci cards for the Amiga, though I dont know if the amiga can take full advantage of the features the soundblaster has to offer.

here is also an excerpt from the creative website: The Sound Blaster Live! includes Creative PlayCenter™ with a full 320kbps encoder and 9X MP3 acceleration, making it fast and easy to create, customize and listen to quality MP3/WMA files.

most of my MP3's are cd rips and songs I created on a keyboard (electronic piano) and then burned to cdr
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: bloodline on March 26, 2003, 11:02:13 AM
Quote

WarPiper wrote:
yes it is I use a soundblaster live platinum in my PC and I have no problem making mp3's from 96 bit to 320 bit, cd rips are easy and sound capture is real easy with the soundblaster live cards, though I know that there are a number of new fangled pci cards for the Amiga, though I dont know if the amiga can take full advantage of the features the soundblaster has to offer.


Sure the Live! comes with Windoze software to encode MP3's but the card does not do it in hardware!!!

The Live! card is just a bunch of DACs and ADCs with a DSP for adding effects, it's not designed to encode mp3s

I prefer to use "RightClick" it has better options.
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: WarPiper on March 26, 2003, 11:12:06 AM
@bloodline

Quote
Sure the Live! comes with Windoze software to encode MP3's but the card does not do it in hardware!!!
The Live! card is just a bunch of DACs and ADCs with a DSP for adding effects, it's not designed to encode mp3s


even if so, who gives a crap, it can still do it!!!!!
there seems to be enough technology on the card to handle it

Sound Blaster Live 5.1 SPECIFICATIONS
Wave-Table Synthesis

E-mu Systems®, Inc. EMU10K1™ music synthesis engine
64-voice hardware polyphony with E-mu's patented 8-point interpolation technology
Uses SoundFont® Bank technology for user-definable wave-table sample sets which include 2MB and 4MB sets
Load up to 32MB of samples into host memory for professional music reproduction
Scalable PCI wave-table synthesis architecture with multi-timbre capability
48 MIDI channels with 128 GM & GS compatible instruments and 10 drum kits
Effects Engine
E-mu Systems, Inc. EMU10K1™ patented effects processor
Support for real-time digital effects like reverb, chorus, flanger, pitch shifter, or distortion across any audio source
Capable of processing, mixing and positioning audio streams using up to 131 available hardware channels
Full digital mixer maintains all sound mixing in the digital domain, eliminating noise from the signal
Customizable effects architecture allows new audio effects to be downloaded from the Web
Full bass, treble, and effects controls available for all audio sources
EAX™ and 3D Audio Technology
User-selectable settings are optimized for headphones or 2, 4, or 5.1 PC speaker and home stereo systems.
Dolby® Digital audio decoding to 5.1 speaker channels in analog or digital modes
Upgradeable 3D audio architecture allows for improvements over time
Accelerates Microsoft® DirectSound® and DirectSound® 3D
Hardware acceleration of EAX™ in games
Creative Multi Speaker Surround™ (CMSS) technology places any mono or stereo source in a 360º audio space
EAX™ preset effects: user-selectable DSP modes that stimulate acoustic environments
Hollywood-Quality, 32-Bit Digital Audio Engine
Processes bit resolutions from 4-bit to 16-bit
Processes sample rates from 5kHz to 48kHz
All sound sources are bundled with 32-bit precision for highest quality output
Analog and digital I/O modes supported
Hardware full duplex support enables simultaneous record and playback at 8 standard sample rates
Utilizes AC '97 Audio Codec
MIDI Interface/Joystick Port
Supports Sound Blaster® MIDI and MPU-401 modes
IBM® compatible 15-pin joystick port with analog support
Support for digital and DirectInput™ game devices
On-Board Connectors
Analog/Digital Out (Analog Center & Subwoofer/6-channel S-PDIF Output)
Line In
Microphone In
Line Level Out (front) / Headphone Out
Line Level Out (rear)
MIDI / Joystick port
Telephone Answering Device In
MPC-3 Analog CD Audio In
Digital CD Audio In
Expansion header for Live! Drive series or Optical Digital I/O card 2 (available separately)
Works with the Following Standards:
Windows® 95, 98, 98SE, NT4.0, 2000, Millennium Edition and XP
General MIDI
MPC-3
Plug and Play
Sound Blaster® PCI
EAX™
Microsoft® DirectSound®, DirectSound® 3D, and derivatives
PCI 2.1 compliant
AC '97 compliant
Dolby® Digital

Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: bloodline on March 26, 2003, 11:20:09 AM
Quote
even if so, who gives a crap, it can still do it!!!!!


Sorry, my point was that any audio source will do, from the cheapest Amiga parallel port sampler to the most expensive PRO Audio card, all you need to do is find some Encoding software for the platform you are using.

I think "LAME" MP3 encoder was ported to the Amiga, though I could be very wrong.
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: jj on March 26, 2003, 11:22:42 AM
yes lame was ported to the miggy, used it a bit, cant remeber where i got it form.  on my 6o3e 175 it used to take real time to convert audio to 196mp3.  by ral time a mean a 5min audio track would take 5mins to convert to mp3. wouldn't like to try it on 68k though
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: jj on March 26, 2003, 11:28:26 AM
I was porbably on about the one for warpos in the contributions folder in OS3.9.  Its command line only though.
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: Piru on March 26, 2003, 11:36:31 AM
Get amiga lame port from The Amiga Alternative Audio Page (http://www.honeypot.net/audio/) or Jarmo Laakkonen's Amiga projects (http://www.kolumbus.fi/jami.laakkonen/ppc/) -page.
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: jj on March 26, 2003, 11:41:09 AM
bladeenc was the one i used, its not bad
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: Karlos on March 26, 2003, 11:46:09 AM
Well I have a live 5.1 in my PC. I use it for audio capture only. Which I have to say its pretty damng good at.

As for musical applications, The 5.1 instrument patches are OK (8MB set), effects are fine for mucking about, but my Yamaha MU100R grinds it into the dust and spits on it for serious realtime effects / tone generation quality :-D

Back on topic, I don't think the SBLive / 5.1 have hardware MP3 decode / encode but the DSP may give a degree of hardware 'assist' depending on drivers etc.
Anyway, MP3 playback is not really much of a processor killer these days. Even my 'obsolete' 350MHz K6-2 is fine, requiring about 2-5% CPU time.
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: whabang on March 26, 2003, 12:05:44 PM
Thanks, guys!
I'm trying to tweak as much life as possible out of my old Athlon 750.
I'm probably going to loose my job, so I won't be able to buy a new computer as I planned... :-(
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: jj on March 26, 2003, 12:08:57 PM
i know how u feel , i lost me job a few months back and things are looking bad on the old job front.

why u loosing ur job, redundancy?
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: whabang on March 26, 2003, 12:16:04 PM
Yep...
Bang! goes the IT-bubble...
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: bloodline on March 26, 2003, 12:20:28 PM
Quote

whabang wrote:
Thanks, guys!
I'm trying to tweak as much life as possible out of my old Athlon 750.
I'm probably going to loose my job, so I won't be able to buy a new computer as I planned... :-(


Yeah, that sucks!!! I've had 4 jobs in the space of one year!!! there is no stability in the work place anymore.
I'm still using my Old Athlon 600 with a TNT2, I had planned to upgrade to an Athlon64, but I've not had a steady enough income to really save that much.

Fortunatelly, after a quick Email to AMD asking them to put back the launch of the A64 for a bit so I could raise the funds to buy one, they did, wasn't that nice of them :-P

Ok I made that up... :-D
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: filson on March 26, 2003, 12:33:46 PM
@bloodline

the most likely reason why SB cards can't encode mp3 in hardware is that it would require a licence from Fraunhofer dev labs. The Audigy series packs anough punch to do whatever encoding you need, in hardware.
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: Karlos on March 26, 2003, 12:36:28 PM
Quote

whabang wrote:
I'm probably going to loose my job, so I won't be able to buy a new computer as I planned... :-(


Sorry to hear that. I know the feeling well!
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: whabang on March 26, 2003, 01:12:56 PM
Quote

Karlos wrote:
Quote

whabang wrote:
I'm probably going to loose my job, so I won't be able to buy a new computer as I planned... :-(


Sorry to hear that. I know the feeling well!

I look at the bright side. I've been complaining about this job for ages, so I need a lil' kick in the arse to get a new one!  :-D  :-D  :-D
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: Karlos on March 26, 2003, 03:00:22 PM
An optimists view at last! Good for you mate :-D
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: whabang on March 26, 2003, 03:07:59 PM
Quote

Karlos wrote:
An optimists view at last! Good for you mate :-D

Yeah. If everything else fail I  allways have our famous swedish welfare! ;-)
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: jj on March 26, 2003, 03:15:22 PM
u got a good dole there, how much a week do u get in sterling ? , we get £107 a fortnight here, plus a bit of coucil tax relief/rates, housing benefit(to help pay your rent/mortgage)
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: whabang on March 26, 2003, 03:19:18 PM
No idea.
A couple that I know get around 9000 SEK ( 661£ ) a month, but it's dependant on circumstances, so I really don't know.
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: jj on March 26, 2003, 03:22:33 PM
f me, thats loads, they must have about twenty kids or something
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: whabang on March 26, 2003, 03:30:14 PM
Quote

JJ wrote:
f me, thats loads, they must have about twenty kids or something

No kids... They have a cat, though I don't get any money for feeding it.
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: whabang on March 27, 2003, 07:24:20 AM
Quote

whabang wrote:
Yep...
Bang! goes the IT-bubble...

Got the papers last night...
My last day will be may 2nd. :-(
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: Desmon on March 27, 2003, 08:08:08 AM
@Warpiper
Quote

@bloodline

Quote
Sure the Live! comes with Windoze software to encode MP3's but the card does not do it in hardware!!!
The Live! card is just a bunch of DACs and ADCs with a DSP for adding effects, it's not designed to encode mp3s


even if so, who gives a crap, it can still do it!!!!!
there seems to be enough technology on the card to handle it



Nice hardware. I have one too. Still doesn't make it encode MP3 IN the hardware. ALl the tools is just software, and only a couple of 'em depend upon the Live! card to do their magic. MP3 encoding ain't one of 'em.

Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: trgse on March 27, 2003, 09:20:51 AM
well under linux OSS the linux source driver does report to OSS that it supports hardware MPEG decoding.

there is also some stuff on the net that dabbles with the DSP and HW decoding of various sound file formats AC3, AAC, OGG etc.
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: Piru on March 27, 2003, 09:55:10 AM
@whabang
What are you asking about? encoding (audio -> mp3) or decoding (mp3 -> audio) ?
topic is about decoding, while in the text body you ask about encoding.. /me confused.

Anyway, I haven't heard of a soundcard with hardware mp3 encoding. Also decoding mp3 takes only few percent of CPU time so it's questionable if it makes sense to put this on custom hardware on a soundcard.

Yes, I don't have a clue about SBLive! ;-)
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: whabang on March 27, 2003, 10:01:16 AM
Decoding.
As said, I try to squeeze as much power as possible out of that ol' crappy 750 i got...
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: Karlos on March 27, 2003, 10:05:36 AM
Quote

whabang wrote:
Decoding.
As said, I try to squeeze as much power as possible out of that ol' crappy 750 i got...


As I said, winamp 2.8 uses about 2-5% cpu time on my AMD K6 II 350. Really, mate don't worry about it  :-D
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: trgse on March 27, 2003, 10:25:34 AM
####e... was it encoding?

well then you are out of luck... but there is some tv-cards which apparently have this function (but for some it probably is just for video, and is it really HW?)
jetway 878m, Askey Magic TV, Pinnacle PCTV Pro all have MPEG encoding/decoding has part of their specs.
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: jj on March 27, 2003, 11:03:13 AM
i have a creative encore dxr3 hardware mpeg decorder card, its vfor dvd, but it uses no cpu at all, apart from the surround sound, cause the sb5.1 live uses software to decode the ac3 stream
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: Hammer on March 27, 2003, 12:45:13 PM
@ bloodline
Just to add.

EMU10K
1. 2,439,711 transistors.
2. 50 Mhz and 100Mhz internal audio clock.
3. 0.35 micron, newer version is at .25 micron
4. 32bit fixed-point and integer operands, 67bit accumulator.

PS; SB Live's specs have been ellipsed by newer APU/DSP chips e.g.  nVidia SoundStorm, VIA Envy and CL SB Audigy II.
Title: Re: MP3 decoding with SBLive!
Post by: Hammer on March 27, 2003, 12:50:36 PM
Quote

Desmon wrote:
@Warpiper
Quote

@bloodline

Quote
Sure the Live! comes with Windoze software to encode MP3's but the card does not do it in hardware!!!
The Live! card is just a bunch of DACs and ADCs with a DSP for adding effects, it's not designed to encode mp3s


even if so, who gives a crap, it can still do it!!!!!
there seems to be enough technology on the card to handle it



Nice hardware. I have one too. Still doesn't make it encode MP3 IN the hardware. ALl the tools is just software, and only a couple of 'em depend upon the Live! card to do their magic. MP3 encoding ain't one of 'em.


Note that AMD’s Athlon can be made to do DSP type jobs, since it has several DSP instructions (not including 3Dnow/SSE instructions). Making the Athlon one of the fastest DSP chip in the market....